(2nd LD) Bosworth arrives in Seoul en route to Pyongyang

(ATTN: CORRECTS time of his arrival; UPDATES throughout with details)
By Lee Chi-dong
SEOUL, Dec. 6 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Barack Obama's North Korea envoy arrived
in South Korea Sunday, unusually avoiding media contact, on his way to Pyongyang
for what will be the first bilateral dialogue between the two sides under the
Obama administration.

Shortly after landing at Incheon International Airport at around 4 p.m. on a
Korean Air flight from London, Stephen Bosworth, Washington's special
representative for North Korea policy, was whisked away by a U.S. embassy
vehicle.
He refused to meet with dozens of reporters, photographers, and television crews
waiting at the airport, apparently reflecting Washington's careful approach to
the crucial dialogue with Pyongyang.
Bosworth is scheduled to fly into Pyongyang on Tuesday for a three-day
high-stakes trip during which he is expected to meet the reclusive communist
nation's Vice Foreign Minister Kang Sok-ju. It is uncertain whether Bosworth will
meet the North's leader Kim Jong-il or tour its main nuclear complex in Yongbyon,
about 100 kilometers north of the capital.
Bosworth will be accompanied by four other U.S. officials including Sung Kim,
special envoy for the six-party talks, Daniel Russel, senior director for Asian
affairs on the National Security Council, and Derek Mitchell, principal deputy
assistant secretary of defense.
Bosworth plans to meet with South Korea's chief nuclear envoy Wi Sung-lac,
Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, and Kim Sung-hwan, senior secretary to President
Lee Myung-bak for security and foreign affairs, on Monday to coordinate a
strategy for the U.S.-North Korea talks, according to Seoul officials.
The U.S. has been cautious not to give the impression that South Korea is being
bypassed in its push for the dialogue with the North, which is one reason why
Bosworth has decided to visit Pyongyang through Seoul, the officials said.
The U.S. delegation will travel to Pyongyang by air from a U.S. air base in Osan
and come back to South Korea on Thursday. They will then visit Beijing, Tokyo and
Moscow to brief the countries' respective governments on the results of the trip.
The U.S. has said the purpose of Bosworth's trip is to persuade North Korea to
come back to the six-way nuclear talks, not to have any substantial negotiations.
Prospects are mixed over the outcome of the first trip by a high-powered U.S.
envoy to North Korea since Christopher Hill visited there in October 2008 as
Washington's top nuclear envoy.
South Korean officials cautioned media against excessive expectations.
"There are no confirmed signals yet that North Korea will return to the six-party
talks," a senior foreign ministry official told reporters. He did say he would
bet on the possibility that Bosworth will not meet the North Korean leader during
the visit.
The official added the U.S. is intent on not engaging in any nuclear negotiations
with North Korea outside of the six-way talks also involving South Korea, China,
Russia, and Japan, and that the North's attitude is a key to the success of
Bosworth's trip.
Diplomatic watchers here, however, say Bosworth will not come back empty-handed
as North Korea and the U.S. held a number of preparatory consultations through
the North's mission to the U.N. in New York. In late October, Ri Gun, the
director of U.S. affairs at the North Korean Foreign Ministry, and Sung Kim, U.S.
special envoy for the six-party talks, also met in New York to discuss the agenda
for the forthcoming high-level dialogue.
For the U.S., the ideal scenario is that North Korea agrees to unconditionally
rejoin the six-way talks that have been stalled for a year. U.S. officials say
Bosworth's trip to Pyongyang, to be made at the invitation of the North Korean
regime, is in itself a face-saving gift for the country.
North Korea is expected to seek more concrete discussions over what incentives it
could gain by returning to the multilateral forum.
The North has stated that it would decide whether to come back to the six-way
talks in accordance with the result of its bilateral contact with the U.S.
Another top South Korean official said, "The U.S. wants to have one-time
bilateral talks, while North Korea will try to have additional rounds before the
resumption of the six-party talks."
Nam Sung-wook, director of the Institute for National Security Strategy, said
North Korea and the U.S. will likely have another high-level meeting in January
and February.
If Bosworth's trip bears no fruit and no minimum deal for such an additional
dialogue is agreed, he added, tensions will again run high amid the U.N.
resolutions against Pyongyang, which may take provocative acts including a third
nuclear experiment.
lcd@yna.co.kr
(END)